Posts Tagged ‘isrg’

  • Intuitive Surgical Soars
    , April 18th, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    I’m often asked my opinion about small companies that are involved in some new technology. My standard response is that I won’t invest in any company until it proves that it can earn a steady profit. That’s harder than it looks. Simply put, too many companies go public before they’re ready.

    The odds against a money-losing start-up becoming a very successful player are large. A good case of a company that has shown the world that it can make a lot of money is Intuitive Surgical ($ISRG). The company is known for its robotic da Vinci Surgical System. Pretty cool, eh?

    ISRG is a member of my Watch List. Check out the growth in earnings-per-share over the last six years: $1.89, $3.70, $5.12, $5.93, $9.47 and $12.32. That’s pretty darn impressive. ISRG was barely hit by the recession.

    Today the company reported blow-out earnings.

    Intuitive Surgical Inc reported higher-than-expected first-quarter profit on Tuesday on increased sales of its high-priced da Vinci surgical robots and a rise in procedures using the systems and its shares rose nearly 6 percent.

    Based on the first quarter performance, the company slightly raised its full-year forecast for revenue and procedure growth.

    Intuitive now sees 2012 revenue growing by 19 percent to 21 percent, up from its previous forecast of 17 percent to 19 percent. It expects procedures to grow by 25 percent to 27 percent, up from a prior view of 24 to 26 percent.

    “After a quarter like this, there was no way they were going to maintain their guidance,” said ThinkEquity analyst Spencer Nam.

    “The guidance is very conservative and remains so even though they raised it a little bit,” said Michael Matson, an analyst for Mizuho Securities.

    The one disappointment for the quarter was sales of da Vinci systems in Europe, where only 14 of the 140 sold in the period were purchased and which the company called below historic trends.

    “European systems sales reflect the challenging economic environment,” Chief Executive Gary Guthart told analysts on a conference call.

    The company said it believes capital spending by European hospitals “will remain pressured for some time to come.”

    Intuitive posted a net profit of $144 million, or $3.50 per share, compared with a profit of $104 million, or $2.59 per share, a year ago. That exceeded analysts’ average expectations by 36 cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

    Revenue for the quarter jumped 28 percent to $495 million, topping Wall Street estimates of $464.1 million.

    “It was a good quarter,” said Matson. “Everyone expected them to beat, but that said, it was a bigger beat than I expected. Some of it was from a lower tax rate, but even if you take that out, they still beat by a lot.”

    The stock soared 7% today and it was the top-performer on the Nasdaq 100. I like this company a lot. The price, however, isn’t so hot.

    I’m torn. I don’t mind paying a premium but the current price seems just too much.

  • Nine Stocks Up over 900% Since 9/11
    , May 5th, 2011 at 9:05 am

    Jeff Reeves lists nine stocks that have risen over 900% since 9/11.

    Here’s a summary:

    Apple ($AAPL) +3,930%

    Amazon ($AMZN) +2,120%

    CNOOC ($CEO) +1,140%

    Green Mountain Coffee ($GMCR) +2,840%

    HMS Holdings ($HMSY) +4,670%

    Imax Corp. ($IMAX) +3,390%

    Intuitive Surgical ($ISRG) +1,830%

    F5 Networks ($FFIV) +1,170%

    Priceline ($PCLN) +1,530%